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For decades researchers have worked to design robotic hands that mimic the dexterity of human hands in the ways they grasp and manipulate objects. However, these earlier robotic hands have not been able to withstand the physical impacts that can occur in unstructured environments. A research team has now developed a compact robotic finger for dexterous hands, while also being capable of withstanding physical impacts in its working environment.

A gripper robot has been developed that can grasp all types of objects, from very fine or thin objects such as acupuncture needles and sewing needles to large objects such as boxes.

Robotics provider Mujin has debuted its latest product, QuickBot, a robot cell for case handling. The first application to become available is a depalletizing solution for automating the receiving process in warehouses.

Self-driving company Argo AI, is closing down after Ford and VW announced that the companies would be ending their investments in the self-driving company. “Profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.

Innodisk, provider of industrial storage, has officially announced a new development strategy focusing on the AI market, and also launched the “Innodisk AI” Solution at a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan. Innodisk has amassed more than 1,000 cases worldwide since the business expand to AIoT in 2017. In the coming years Innodisk will continue to extend its ecosystem alliance, and expand its focus on AI development with subsidiaries, as well as its partners Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft and ASUS IoT.

Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation  has executed field trials for shipyard operations at the Naval Base Ventura County. The Company performed field tests on the ground and at height using a suite of Sarcos solutions, including the Guardian DX teleoperated dexterous robot for defense; the Sapien 6M dexterous robot; the Sapien Sea Class underwater robot; and the Guardian S remote visual inspection robot.

Oracle and NVIDIA announced a multi-year partnership on AI. The collaboration aims to bring the full NVIDIA accelerated computing stack — from GPUs to systems to software — to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Sales of professional service robots rose by an impressive 37% in 2021. By region, the strongest growth came from Europe with a market share of 38% followed by North America with 32% and Asia with 30%. At the same time, sales of new consumer service robots grew by 9%, according to the “World Robotics 2022 – Service Robots” report, issued by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

Chinese smart EV company XPeng unveiled a series of technical innovations at its fourth annual 1024 Tech Day in Guangzhou. The event featured next-generation neural network-based perception architecture, closed-loop AI and data management platform, voice and smart cabin technologies, and the latest developments in its mobility ecosystem, including latest robotaxi, flying car and robotics endeavors.

Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have designed a new type of soft, robotic gripper that uses a collection of thin tentacles to entangle and ensnare objects, similar to how jellyfish collect stunned prey.